Presidential Candidate, Mike Huckabee and other speakers emphasize the need for repentance.
By Hunter Hines
Christian Action League
October 20, 2015
RALEIGH – Approximately 10,000 people attended a pro-family rally in Raleigh Saturday, October 17th, on the Halifax Mall. Headlined by presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, speakers highlighted the need for America to repent. In response, attendees listened intently to each speaker and sometimes raised their Bibles in the air with loud shouts of “amen,” “praise the Lord,” and “glory to God.”
The beginning of the event featured a choir 1,000 people strong, singing “Because He Loved Me,” followed by congregational singing of “Amazing Grace.” The rally also featured other singers throughout the program.
Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest provided the welcome and opening remarks. Forest said the meeting’s purpose was not political, but spiritual. He said, “Government is not the solution.” Forest went on to say that government today is simply a reflection of its people, and, if government is to function properly the country needed a right relationship with God. Each speaker that followed Forest seemed to reiterate this same theme in one way or another.
Well-known apologist and author Alex McFarland emceed the rally. McFarland quoted Proverbs 14:34, saying, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach (a detriment, a debasement) to any people.”
Otis Duhart, a traveling evangelist based out of Knoxville, Tennessee, was the first among the event’s main speakers to speak. Durhart shared from Romans 3:4, which exhorts, “let God be true, but every man a liar.”
Duhart said the main problem with many Americans is that they think they know better than God. He said, “All the controversial issues we deal with in this country would be gone if Americans knew God to be true.”
He added the nation would do well to recognize that what God has revealed in the Bible about creation, marriage and the family, and salvation is true.
Regarding creation, Duhart said the world was specially created by God, arguing, “nothing plus nothing equals nothing.” He said marriage as God ordained it is between one man and one woman and that God does not approve of same-sex marriage. Quoting Acts 4:12 as his authority, Duhart said, “Jesus only saves.”
He concluded his remarks with a fervent question for the audience, asking, “Who are you going to believe, God or man?”
After several bouts with the sound system going on and off, Mike Huckabee followed Duhart.
Referencing early American history, Huckabee said there was no explanation for America’s existence apart from the providence of God. He said the colonists were up against a formidable force that they could not have defeated, if it hadn’t been for God’s intervention in response to their prayers for his help.
Huckabee said regarding the throng that gathered on the mall, “We are here because we’re broken-hearted.” He said Christians were deeply saddened over the Supreme Court’s decisions concerning abortion and marriage. He said the remedy was not in the next election or a formula, but in a book written by God and not man – the Bible.
The presidential candidate urged Christians to pray as taught in 2 Chronicles 7: 14, which says, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
Huckabee admonished that Christians had not sought God’s face as commanded, but instead had only sought his hand. “We too long have sought the hand of God and not the face of God,” he said, He urged Christians to put away their sins, adding, “We came not to ask God to stand with us, but to say that we stand with God.”
He concluded that when God’s people seek his face in prayer and repent of their sins, God will “hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.”
Dr. Tim Rabon, senior pastor of Beacon Baptist Church in Raleigh, was the third speaker. Rabon also spoke from 2 Chronicles 7:14.
Similarly emphasizing the need for repentance by the church, the fault of what’s wrong with the nation today can be laid in part to the failure of God’s people, Rabon argued. He said judgment begins with the house of God. He said, “The rain of revival will never fall until we humble ourselves.”
“Revival is not found in organizing,” said Rabon, “but in agonizing.” “We need to agonize in prayer, seeking God’s face, repent and turn from our sins,” he said. He concluded it was the only obstacle to turning America around.
The fourth and last main speaker on the roster was Ron Baity, pastor of Berean Baptist Church in Winston Salem.
Baity spoke at length about America’s religious moorings. He noted the founders’ reliance on the Scriptures, referencing a study done by the University of Houston that examined 15,000 documents dating from 1775 to 1805. Among 3400 quotes from the founders, the study revealed their quotes could be traced back to writers like Blackstone, Locke, and Montesquieu only about 8 percent of the time. But 34 percent of the time they were directly quoting Scripture and 94 percent of the time it was clear they were influenced by the Scriptures.
Baity declared, “The Word of God has the answer.” He said that early America used the Bible to guide the nation through the murky waters of war and its birth in freedom.
Baity also spoke at length about the nation’s judiciary. He cited numerous times the United States Supreme Court made erroneous rulings in the past like the Dred Scott case, saying, “They got it wrong!” Then Baity noted more recent rulings by the High Court banning prayer, the reading of the Scriptures and the posting of the Ten Commandments in the public schools. He also cited the Roe v. Wade abortion decision and the most recent Obergefell v. Hodges case that redefined marriage. With each case mentioned, Baity shouted, “They got it wrong!”
“The greatest institutions of life were ordained of God – Home – Government – the Church,” said Baity. “As goes the home, so goes the church, as goes the church, so goes the government,” he concluded.
Other speakers who spoke briefly were Tami Fitzgerald of the North Carolina Values Coalition and Hassan Harnett, Chairman of the North Carolina GOP.
The rally ended with hundreds of pastors from all over the state making commitments to carry the message of the rally back to their churches and communities.
Dr. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League, said he thought the “We Stand with God” rally set the right tone. “Its emphasis,” he said, “was on the most needed message the church and the nation needs to hear today – repentance.”
“I recognize repentance is an old-fashioned word and a concept which has fallen on hard times, but I cannot say it enough – without repentance there is no redemption. The nation won’t turn until we turn, until our homes turn, until our churches turn wholly to God,” he said.
“I don’t think this was a political event, but it unquestionably will have political ramifications for good if its message is heeded,” Dr. Creech added.
The last “We Stand with God” rally was held in August in Columbia, South Carolina. It featured as keynote speakers, Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Rick Perry.
Other “We Stand with God” pro-family rallies are being planned across the country.